About this Research Topic
The field of Nuclear Medicine has recently seen major advances with the development and marketing of new radiopharmaceuticals suited for both diagnostics and therapy, notably in the field of theranostics. For example, the marketing of new drugs was enabled by the early adoption of isotopes with more appropriate physical properties matching the biological constraints, such as alpha emitters for targeted radionuclide therapy. They combine, for instance, more appropriate nuclear decay properties and physical half-lives, and enable new modalities in medical research. Meanwhile isotope mass separation techniques and upcoming new large scale facilities have served the nuclear physics community for fundamental research and applications.
Recent highlights cover the marketing of companion drugs for treatment and diagnostics such as Luthatera®/Somakit-toc® marketed by Advanced Accelerators Applications-Novartis based on Lutetium-177 and Gallium-68. More recently CERN took the initiative to construct the MEDICIS facility to provide non-conventional high purity grade radioisotopes for medicine, such as the Terbium isotope family, exploiting isotope mass separation. The MEDICS facility was accompanied with a Marie Curie training network, MEDICIS-Promed, granted by the European Commission in H2020, which trained young scientists across scientific disciplines from isotope production and separation techniques up to developments and their application in nuclear medicine. The final conference held in Erice in May 2019 brought together scientists from across these disciplines, both younger and at an advanced stage of their career.
This topical Research Topic in Frontiers in Medicine will receive original research and review articles from related topics, possibly involving groups with links to MEDICIS-Promed, related physics and medical research facilities, and as well as those expressing a keen interest in the present PRISMAP: The European Medical Isotope Program consortium project that was kicked-off in Erice. This program aims to provide sustainable, non-conventional medical isotopes provision for European researchers, thanks to the integration of key infrastructures.
Recent highlights cover the marketing of companion drugs for treatment and diagnostics such as Luthatera®/Somakit-toc® marketed by Advanced Accelerators Applications-Novartis based on Lutetium-177 and Gallium-68. More recently CERN took the initiative to construct the MEDICIS facility to provide non-conventional high purity grade radioisotopes for medicine, such as the Terbium isotope family, exploiting isotope mass separation. The MEDICS facility was accompanied with a Marie Curie training network, MEDICIS-Promed, granted by the European Commission in H2020, which trained young scientists across scientific disciplines from isotope production and separation techniques up to developments and their application in nuclear medicine. The final conference held in Erice in May 2019 brought together scientists from across these disciplines, both younger and at an advanced stage of their career.
This topical Research Topic in Frontiers in Medicine will receive original research and review articles from related topics, possibly involving groups with links to MEDICIS-Promed, related physics and medical research facilities, and as well as those expressing a keen interest in the present PRISMAP: The European Medical Isotope Program consortium project that was kicked-off in Erice. This program aims to provide sustainable, non-conventional medical isotopes provision for European researchers, thanks to the integration of key infrastructures.
Keywords: Targeted Radiotherapy, Isotope Mass Separation, Theranostics, MEDICIS-Promed ITN, Nuclear Medicine
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
